Re: changing the fan cooler on my video card

attilathehun1 wrote:
Ok, I brought the ATI FireGL X2 AGP Pro graphics card to Tune-Up Masters and the mechanic took off the stripped screw and the whole fan too. I owe him a lunch. I offered it, he didn't ask for it. Alright, I just need the new cooler to slap onto the card and I'll uninstall this ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 128 mb AGP 8x/4x. It says on this 9800 card to " experience the fastest 3D Gaming performance ". But, wait, I haven't played Diablo 2 expansion with it, or Warcraft the Frozen Throne, maybe it's a gaming card and better to play games. Wait again, I need to do stock trading with this PC and I think the ATI FireGL X2 Pro is better for that. You were asking about where the memory is on the card, it's on the sides four squares 1/2" by 1/2". Then in the middle of all those it looks like a CPU chip sorta. Also, it looks like someone put some arctic silver or thermal paste on it and the bottom of the fan cooler. Oh, these high-end cards have there own CPU, I guess? Ok, the " CPU chip " is almost in the middle of the card and on the below the center of the card. Anotherwords, horizontially, it's almost in the middle of the card, and vertically the top of the metal bracket that surrounds the CPU chip is right in the center of the card, so the actual chip is below the center of the card. The four memory patches are north and east of CPU chip, 2 north and 2 east. This card now that I've seen the components on the card, I can see why it's so expensive. I'm having trouble getting the thermal paste off of the metal " heatsink " that is the bottom of the fan cooler. It came off the CPU chip kinda easy compared with this top piece. Ok, forget that! Lets move on to getting the cooler for this card. I'm think about the Zalman VF900-Cu VGA cooler, or the VF700-Cu VGA cooler. What's your opinion on that? There are some other video card coolers that got kick-ass awards from newegg.com, in fact, the VF900-Cu VGA from Zalman got a kick-ass award. Ok enough for this message. Any more help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, attilathehun1


As I indicated in a previous post, the Zalman web page says "9xxx" cards
use the metal mounting arms labeled "1" and "1" in the picture. So the
VF900-Cu is supposed to fit. The tougher part is going to be, whether
RAM sinks need to be fitted or not.

The screws go into the two arms on the side, and not the four major arms on
the corners.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/35-118-001-03.jpg

They include eight RAM sinks in the kit, but personally, I'd think twice
before using these. They have been known to fall off. And since they're
made of aluminum, they can electrically short to something they fall on.
There is a way to affix them permanently, but so permanently that the
RAM chips would be destroyed, if you ever wanted to remove the RAM
sink. So the RAM sink part of this installation, is the thing I
would be afraid of.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/35-118-001-04.jpg

There are four RAM chips on either side of the card. Since you
cannot touch them, with the stock cooler in place, it is hard
to say whether they get hot enough to need a heatsink. The VF900
will blow cooling air, on the four chips on the front, but the
ones on the back wouldn't have any assistance.

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/r9800xt-4.html

Read the reviews here, to see how much trouble people have with the
RAM sinks. I'm not going to read all of these, so have a look for
yourself. There are more than 700 reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16835118001&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=100

"Cons: The memory heat sinks, have SUB standard TIM tape on them.
THEY WILL fall off, eventually"

"Cons: cleaned ram with 70% isopropyl alcohol and let dry -- 2 heat
sinks for RAM didn't stick that well; they're on there - I
let sinks sit on RAM for 5 hours. They are still in place --
just wish the 3m tape on sinks was a bit tackier"

"Other Thoughts: If you do install this cooler on your card make sure
after every thing is on the card you leave it fan side
and don't touch it or move it for 24 hours!!! This is
to make sure the stick-on heat-sinks set properly."

"Other Thoughts: It is absolutely crucial to clean the surface of the
the ram chips with alcohol prior to sticking the ram
heatsinks on. Otherwise they fall off if they are bumped
or handled in any way. If possible allow the ram heatsinks
to adhere over-night before handling and installation."

I hope the message is clear, from those comments, that great care should be
used, fitting the RAM heatsinks. Based on those comments, I'd install four
RAM heatsinks, wait 24 hours for some magic to happen to whatever the TIM
is on the heatsink. Then install the other four, being careful not to
stress the heatsinks or pull on them.

When you clean the RAM with alcohol, also leave plenty of time for the
RAM chips to dry. Don't slap the RAM sink plus tape on there right
away. Alcohol residue might make the tape weaker. So the whole installation
procedure is going to take time and patience.

Paul
.

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